Estate Wines

From our Estate

The poor soils, an abundance of rocks and the dry, temperate climate found in the Howell Mountain AVA combine to create vines that are stressed, producing smaller clusters and berries and lower yields than their valley floor counterparts. Fortunately, however, this hostile environment results in concentrated and intensely flavorful berries. They exhibit a nose and taste profile that is unique to the AVA. This profile is expressed in the wine by robust earthiness, minerality and an intensity of fruit that is not found anywhere else in the valley. The wines have a depth and balance that lead to age ability, but also, under the care of Sam Kaplan’s winemaking skills, can be appreciated upon release. This is the payoff for the difficult and tedious work that goes into the planting and cultivation of these vineyards, especially if farmed organically, and the care and fanatical attention to detail in the winemaking. Our Estate wines reflect the Howell Mountain characteristics, but because of its orientation on the Western shoulder of the mountain, also exhibit our own unique terroir profile.

Estate Red

The Arkenstone Estate Cabernet Blend (formerly known as Obsidian) consists entirely of fruit from our Howell Mountain Estate ranging from 1400’ to 1650’ on the western shoulder of the mountain. Each year the blend is comprised of the top performing blocks from 16 of our 22 blocks dedicated to the Estate Cab Blend. By having complete control over the vineyard we are able to begin to shape the wines while on the vine. Once picked, we process all of our fruit here at Arkenstone where the grapes are sorted and fed by gravity down into our fermentation hall. As the grapes come in, all lots are kept separate to ferment and age individually. Once the wines have aged about 11 months in barrel by lot we will begin to make our blend. Once blended the wine will go back into barrel for an additional 11 months and then into bottle for an additional year before release.

Syrah

Our Syrah is grown right here on our Howell Mountain Estate. Sitting high on the western facing part of our vineyard it has the very best view of the valley floor below. This is consistently a robust, full bodied wine, with depth and fullness, but elegant silkiness to round it out.

Winemaking details

Sauvignon Blanc

The Arkenstone Estate Sauvignon Blanc originally planted in 1997 is grown in 6 different very steep, very rocky, vineyard blocks on our Howell Mountain Estate. Choosing to plant only in the perfect patches of nutrient lacking, well-drained, white volcanic soils we are able to grow very concentrated, rich, but balanced, beautiful Sauvignon Blanc. Along with the Sauvignon Blanc in the lower part of our vineyard, we also farm a small block of Semillon which is blended with our Sauvignon Blanc. The percentage of Semillon will change each vintage, but the results are always consistent. The Semillon adds beautiful floral aromatics along with a bigger mid-palate that seamlessly complements and integrates with the Sauvignon Blanc’s natural notes of melon, citrus, and minerality. From our rigorous farming practices to winemaking to our final blend, this wine is very much our tip of the cap to the classic white wines of Bordeaux. As with all 13 acres of our Arkenstone Estate, the Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon are both farmed exclusively in-house using only organic farming techniques overseen by Winemaker Sam Kaplan.

Winemaking Details

Blend

Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon

AVA

Howell Mountain

Vineyard

Arkenstone Estate

Aging

11 months Sur-Lie in concrete egg, new French oak, used French oak, 18 months bottle aging before release

Allocation Membership

The Arkenstone Collection

Allocation Collection membership is very limited and is offered based on availability. By becoming a member of the Arkenstone Collection, you will be sure not to miss a vintage due to the wines being sold out. We will have 3 tiers with limited available signups for each tier.